Green windows and doors open new opportunities

Shawn Hoult, Postmedia News02.17.2011

While the savings in heating costs are attractive, windows are an expensive component of any new house, accounting for $5,000 to $8,000 or more of the budget. While energy-efficient windows cost about 15 per cent more, the price premium is offset by lower energy costs.Debra Brash
/ Victoria Times Colonist

Energy-efficient windows make a room warm and cosy, even when you are sitting right up against the glass.Ray Smith
/ Victoria Times Colonist

"The glass has a low-E coating, with argon gas in between the panes. Every manufacturer's got a different name for them, but essentially they have the same properties."

He adds though prices are dependent on a number of factors, the average living room window can be updated for roughly $1,000, some of which customers will see returned in the form of lower heating costs.

Glen Ambrogiano of Lux Windows and Glass says not only are people opting for double pane low-E windows, many are further increasing their efficiency with triple-pane glass, often with two low-E coated panes and two chambers of argon.

"The absolute minimum would be a dual-glaze low-E, but we find the trend is definitely pushing into the high-efficiency stuff, which is the triple-glazed," says Ambrogiano.

He says the average single pane window offers an R value of roughly two, while a triple-pane low-E window can quadruple that value, increasing both thermal efficiency and noise reduction.

Homeowners are also concerned with style.

Janiszewski says many customers are opting for products in blacks, browns, reds and greens, as well as choosing low-maintenance materials.

Style and maintenance are also buzzwords when it comes to doors, says Janiszewski, noting the clunky materials of the past have been replaced by fibreglass in either a smooth finish or a wood-grain texture.

He says the fibreglass doors stand up better to normal wear and tear, and allow homeowners a wide range of colours, stains and styles that weren't available in the past. And like the newer windows, they offer huge increases in efficiency.

"The fibreglass door is much more energy efficient; it's got a polyurethane core in it, so it's much more efficient than a traditional wood door, and it's not going to warp or rot," says Janiszewski.

With the addition of colours and glass inserts in newer doors, customers are opting to remove screen doors and allow their door to be on full display, says Ambrogiano.

"People are spending so much money to dress up their front door systems, and the last thing they want to do is hide this $800 or $1,000 insert that they put in this door with some $200 storm door," he says.

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